Asian Shares Fall; Investors Take Profit On Fncls

SINGAPORE (MarketWatch) -- Asian shares were mostly lower Wednesday as financial stocks gave back some recent gains and as a lack of clarity in Intel Corp.'s earnings outlook sent the technology sector down.

The stock market "can't go up forever. There are plenty of buyers with cash on the sidelines but they are careful about how they are spending and today they are having a day off. I call it 'the pause that refreshes,'" said Bill Bishop, a private client adviser at ABN AMRO Morgans in Sydney.

Financials were taking a hit across the region with Nomura Holdings down 6.6%, Daiwa Securities down 6.2% and Mitsubishi UFJ FG down 2.8% in Japan. Australia's ANZ Bank was down 0.9% with Commonwealth Bank of Australia down 0.6%. Korea's KB Financial fell 3.8% and Hana Financial 3.6%. In Taiwan, Shin Kong was down 1.8% and Cathay Financial had lost 2.0%.

"The banks have had a great run and we should see profit-taking, but that shouldn't worry you too much. We've overshot in the short term," said Jeremy Hook, a private client advisor at TMS Capital in Sydney.

Stocks were taking their cue from a decline on Wall Street after some disappointing retail sales data.

After the market closed Intel said its first-quarter net income dropped 55% on lower sales and margins; while the world's largest computer-chip maker said there were some signs of a bottoming, its fairly hazy second quarter guidance unnerved markets.

In Japan, NEC Electronics was down 7.0% with Advantest down 2.1%, Sony down 1.8% and Canon off 2.9%. Taiwan's TSMC was 1.0% lower. Korea's Hynix Semiconductor was down 0.7% but LG Electronics was 2.0% higher.

South Korean markets weren't reacting to the latest developments on North Korea, with Pyongyang ordering International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors out, ending international monitoring of a research reactor at Yongbyon in a move that in theory could allow the reprocessing of fuel rods to produce plutonium.

"Investors have learned from the past that such geopolitical issues have not had a critical impact on financial markets," said J.J. Park, at Taurus Investment & Securities in Seoul.

Energy stocks were active in Sydney: AGL Energy slipped 0.9% after saying it won't exercise an option to buy A$1 billion worth of coal seam gas and power generation assets in Queensland state from BG Group.

But Arrow Energy gained 5.5% on word it had achieved the first gas flows from the Fort Cooper Coal Measures in the Bowen Basin region of Queensland.

China's Shanghai Composite Index was 0.3% lower with some profit-taking in resource stocks: Jiangxi Copper was down 2.4% and Western Mining had fallen 1.4%.

Malaysian shares were 0.5% lower, Singapore shares had lost 1.6%, and shares in the Philippines were down 0.9%. Indonesia's market though was up 0.9%.

"This is just near-term selling pressure, part of the correction phase after the recent rally," said April Lee, research head at CitisecOnline.com in the Philippines.

In currency trade, the euro was lower at $1.3233, from $1.3274 late in New York, and at Y130.38, from Y131.20. The U.S. dollar was at Y98.49, from Y98.83.

The Australian dollar fell to US$0.7178 amid a bout of selling, mainly by Japanese holders. The market was awash with talk of a major Asia company unwinding large Australian dollar holdings.

The U.S. dollar was gaining against the New Taiwan dollar, up at NT$33.709 from a one-week low of NT$33.620 Tuesday, after Standard & Poor's lowered its outlook on Taiwan's sovereign rating to negative late Tuesday.

Japanese government bonds were higher with the lead futures contract up 0.15 at 136.71 points.

Bond investors were looking ahead to a meeting Friday between primary dealers and the Ministry of Finance. "They are more or less on the sidelines to see what the conclusion will be," said Mitsubishi UFJ Securities strategist Naomi Hasegawa.

Spot gold was up $2.50 from its New York close at $891.80 per troy ounce. LME three-month copper fell $33 from London, to $4,665 a metric ton, after Tuesday's 8% gain.

Front-month Nymex crude oil futures were six cents lower at $49.35 a barrel on Globex.

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use. Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. All quotes are in local exchange time. Real-time last sale data for U.S. stock quotes reflect trades reported through Nasdaq only. Intraday data delayed at least 15 minutes or per exchange requirements.